|
Veep holds discussions on
Savannah Accelerated Development Authority
Accra, March 28,
Ghanadot/GNA – Vice President John Mahama on Saturday kicked-off
discussions on the proposed Savannah Accelerated Development
Authority (SADA), an ambitious development agenda aimed at
reducing poverty in northern Ghana to 20 percent of the
population within fifteen years.
Official statistics say currently, about 80 percent of the
population are poor.
The discussions which were being held at the Accra International
Conference Centre brought together politicians, development
planners and policy makers.
The focus of the deliberations was how to roll over the current
GH¢25 million Northern Development Fund (NDF) into the projected
GH¢200 million SADA.
SADA is seen as the most ambitious programme till date that aims
at narrowing the yawning development gap in the northern regions
of Ghana, as well as the contiguous savannah areas of the Volta
and Brong Ahafo Regions, to the rest of the country.
Among the broad concerns of the Authority is the creation of a
competitive northern economic zone that would highlight the
enormous agricultural potential of the selected areas.
Vice President Mahama, who convened the meeting, re-echoed the
necessity of establishing the SADA as to serve as a “road map”
in tackling the myriad of problems besetting the savannah areas
of the country.
He said the government intended the SADA not only as a mechanism
to help scale up development in the selected areas, but also to
help transform agriculture in the country by enhancing
infrastructure development and promoting agri-business.
He said the programme enjoys a “broad scale of support” not only
from Ghanaians but also from bilateral institutions.
He asked experts working on the proposals to set a blueprint for
a larger stakeholder meeting to be held later in the year for
the eventual establishment of the Authority.
Dr Charles Jebuni, Head of Technical Team of the SADA
implementation committee, said the Authority would help to
correct past policy failures in the northern parts of the
country.
He said a policy thrust of SADA was to position the selected
areas as economic zones that could serve as alternate to some
national projects.
Citing the energy sector, Dr Jebuni said emphasis could be
focused on promoting solar as alternative to the national grid
given the amount of sunshine in the area.
He said SADA would also be used to promote economic growth in
the mining, agriculture and tourism sectors to create assets for
the poor.
Dr Sulley Gariba, Coordinator of the Social and Political unit
of the project said the team was working towards a long-term
strategy in addressing the developmental problems of the north.
Madam Hannah Tetteh, Minister for Trade, lauded the proposal as
a masterpiece which would help promote the overall developmental
strategy of the country.
GNA
|
